


Team, It's Getting Colder!

by TattersTheBat



Category: Bug Fables (Video Game)
Genre: Bugs & Insects, Complete, Friendship, Gen, Ice, My First Work in This Fandom, Post-Canon, Snow and Ice, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28129905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TattersTheBat/pseuds/TattersTheBat
Summary: A cold winter falls on Bugaria swiftly and suddenly. When the members of Team Snakemouth end up separated in the cold, will the remaining duo be able to work together to save their teammate? Is their bond strong enough to get them through what they might have to face?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. First Snow

The sun was high in the sky, clouds slowly drifting across the open blue without a care in the world. The light fell upon the large blades of grass surrounding the Ant Kingdom, as it always did on the best of afternoons. In the center of the quaint town stood a humble statue, not of royalty, but of a common ant, finely crafted from marble. At its base, three bugs were standing - a yellow bee, a green beetle, and a blue moth, named Vi, Kabbu, and Leif, respectively. Team Snakemouth, perhaps the most renowned team in all of Bugaria, thanks to their exploits and great effort in seeking out the legendary Everlasting Sapling…

...And now, it seemed like there was nothing left to do. They had eagerly taken on quests as they had been posted to the town’s bulletin, leaving certain ones that were better suited to their fellow teams. The unique trio now stood together, talking amongst themselves and lamenting the lack of activity.

“I almost want some jerk to go around stealing stuff, y’know?” Vi said, crossing her arms impatiently, her antennae shifting at the movement. “Peace is cool and all, but we’re an exploration team, not a stand around and do nothing team!”

“I’m sure in due time we’ll be called upon, Vi, we just need to be patient.” Kabbu tried to calm his teammate down, his mighty horn shining under the sunlight.

“Why don’t we take a walk down to Snakemouth Den?” Leif suggested, to the surprise of his teammates. “We haven’t been there in some time.”

“...We thought it was for good reason…” Kabbu replied respectfully.

“We appreciate the concern, but the wounds have been healed by time now.” The moth reassured. “Besides, it was where our adventure began. Where the three of us met. We’re certain there’s more to be found.”

“Beats standing around here.” Vi chimed in with a shrug. “A nice walk down memory lane. Maybe we could beat up some seedlings and get a few stray berries! ...What?” She folded her arms again, seeing the disapproving looks on both of her friends’ faces.

Without a word, the moth and beetle began walking towards the exit of the town, Vi exhaling heavily before following them. They stepped out of the town’s limits, into the area housing the formidable Explorer’s Association… it had been there for so many moons, yet their adventure still seemed so recent. 

As per the usual route, they crossed a surprisingly stable bridge of leaves, approaching the large arch crafted from wood as they entered the outskirts of Bugaria, just where the ant kingdom’s borders ended… It was pretty much a straight shot to the mythical Snakemouth den, the path not holding too many obstacles besides basic seedlings, or so the team thought.

With Leif in the lead of the team and Vi still catching up just a tad, they passed under a branch of a growing sapling… and a huge clump of coldness dropped on Vi! She let out a surprised yelp, her teammates instantly turning around.

“Oh heavens!” Kabbu rushed over, helping dig Vi out from what had fallen on her - a large pile of snow that had been weighing the branch down!

“Brrr… it’s already winter… I hate the snow.” Vi lamented, shivering heavily.

“We, for one, love it.” Leif contributed.

“Says the one with ice magic!”

“Settle down, you two.” Kabbu raised his arms up to stop them from arguing. “I’m sure it’s not going to be that bad. Though… if there was already snow on that branch…”

All three of the bugs looked up. Sure enough, white particles were beginning to drift down from the clouds above, the sun appearing to almost rush towards its setting arc. It seemed like the weather was certainly ready to bring winter on as soon as possible!

“...Let us return to town for now.” Leif said after a moment of silence, watching the snow slowly fall to the ground. There were no arguments, and the team began to head back, the ground sounding more and more like crunching as a dust-like layer of snow decorated it.

Making haste, the team just about made it back to the Association, but just before they got there… they witnessed a huge pile of snow blocking the way through the arch! They looked up, noticing the branch of a mighty tree had brought this mountain upon them, thanks to the additional snow weighing down a branch just as the smaller tree had done to alert them to the weather.

“Now what do we do? I don’t wanna be stuck here in the cold!” Vi protested in a somewhat whiny tone, a tone most familiar to her team. Indeed, it seemed any other direction was a bust - the sides of the path lead into thickets of grass, most of it either labyrinthine or outright too tightly packed to allow for movement at all.

“Well, if it’s colder…” Leif smirked readily, walking up to the edge of the river bordering the main path. The river ran all the way from Snakemouth, flowing through the town and beyond to the “sea” on Bugaria’s furthest borders with the formidable Giant’s Lair.

The moth decisively gathered a cloud of icy magic within his palm, slamming it outward to produce a large chunk of ice, seemingly from nothing. It landed in the water, beginning to slowly float along as he jumped on and gestured for his team to join. Once everyone was on top of the ice, it supported their weight surprisingly well, and in no time, they made it to the bridged area in the association’s little region.

“Vi, can you fly us up there?” Kabbu suggested. Really, Vi could only carry Kabbu, Leif having to use his own magic to keep up with them, but he didn’t want his request to sound demanding.

“No good.” Vi replied. “My wings don’t work well in the weather.”

“Everyone, on three.” Leif interjected, drawing his teammates’ attention to the lip of the bridge above. “One, two… three!”

All three of them leaped, grasping on to the edge of the bridge. Vi and Leif were able to squeeze beneath the railing easily, but Kabbu… he was too big! He fell back down due to the instability of the bridge, at least the instability that existed when two other bugs were already on it. Thankfully, he landed back on the ice platform, as his friends rushed to the other side of the bridge.

“Kabbu!” Vi called out. “Are you okay!?”

“Um, yeah… I-I’ll just ride the ice down to the pier, I’ll meet you guys back here!” Kabbu said with a determined expression on his face. “T-The cold should help keep the ice from melting.”

“...Okay…” Vi said quietly, knowing fully well Kabbu was already drifting far out of earshot - and soon enough, even sight. She and Leif looked at each other and shrugged, deciding to head into the Explorer’s Association to keep warm.

…

“He what!?” Eetl, the blue beetle running the association’s quest board and application progress, was in something of hysterics as he was clued in on the tale, after asking the team where Kabbu had gotten off to.

“He said he’ll go down to the pier,” Leif explained, “and then he’d meet us back here as soon as he could. It’s a long ride, but our ice drop might last thanks to the weather.”

“MIGHT!?” The poor beetle looked like he was about ready to faint. “W-we have to go and save him!”

“Kabbu’s tough. I’m sure he’ll be fine!” Vi claimed, hiding her intense desires to not have to venture out in the middle of snowy weather like this, especially if it was ever due to become something worse.

“No, Vi, he has a point.” Leif intervened. “He’s our teammate. He would do the same for us.” The moth put on a commanding tone. Kabbu was normally the “leader” of the group, though they were on equal grounds and he was too humble to ever admit to it, so Leif felt it was up to him to take that role right now…

“I-I’ll come with you!” Eetl hastily added, much to the surprise of the team. “I might not be as tough as you guys, but I can still fight… especially with all you guys have done for us, it’s the least I can do!”

Leif put up a hand to his chin, thinking about the offer as the cool-colored beetle watched, fidgeting his digits as he waited for a response. Leif’s stoic face hardly showed any indication of his thoughts, but he finally made a reply nonetheless.

“Yes, it would be better to have a full team.” Leif finally said with a nod. “Just do be careful. We’re sure Kabbu wouldn’t appreciate you getting hurt.”

“Will do!” Eetl dutily saluted, feeling dorky as he immediately lowered his arm again. The three of them stepped out onto the flower serving as an entrance staircase to the association, the cold wind hitting them like a sunbeam at midnight.


	2. Icy Trails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leif, Vi, and Eetl try to look for Kabbu at the pier, or at least try to find clues to his whereabouts.

At a glance, it hardly looked like the team was any different - Eetl shared a species with Kabbu, so though his colors were different, a mere silhouette would make the team seem nearly identical.

However, as Leif and Vi very quickly found out… Eetl was really not the best fighter. He was clearly trying his best, attacking the seedlings and underlings that engaged the team. Yet, his horn was nowhere near as strong as Kabbu’s.

It was becoming clear now that there was a reason he was placed on the duty of paperwork of all things…

As the team let Eetl take the lead for a little while, the moth and bee made a small bit of distance with their pace so they could speak regarding his… contributions, to put it nicely enough. They didn’t want to be rude, but the fact of the matter was, they were afraid he would get badly hurt…

“Are we sure bringing him was a good idea?” Vi whispered.

“We’re not certain anymore.” Leif sighed. “We thought he would be quite useful. He is driven and determined, anybody can say that much. Yet, he simply does not have the strength.”

“We just need to make sure he’s safe, I guess.” Vi shrugged. “After all, if he gets hurt, it’ll probably be us that’ll be doing all the guild paperwork until he’s better!”

“What are you all talking about?” Eetl turned slightly, having heard the whispers but not the contents of the conversation.

“Nothing.” They replied in mumbling unison.

At the very least, the coastal path through the outskirts was very pretty when the ground was laced with snow, crunching beneath the team’s feet as they marched onward through the plains. The river had a few small chunks of ice, some patches frosting over. This sparked some hope into the trio - it was seeming more and more likely that the ice drop from Leif had indeed lasted their friend all the way to the piers.

All of them finally passed beneath the arch leading to the docks. Perhaps most thankfully of all, this entrance had not met with the same fate as the one leading towards Snakemouth Trail, and they could pass right under no problem. No boats were in the water, as expected due to bits of ice forming on the surface - it would be much too dangerous to go out on a boat in this weather.

However… Kabbu was nowhere to be seen.

“Do you guys think we passed him?” Vi suggested as the group walked past the stone steering wheel sculpture. “He would’ve ended up here following the river, right?”

“You don’t think t-t-the ice thing melted!?” Eetl’s voice quivered at his own words, the fate of their beetle friend no longer seeming so certain. The group immediately joined in with their own worried expressions.

“Kabbu’s tough… he would’ve made it out. We are sure of it.” Leif tried to comfort his teammates. “Maybe we should ask one of the sailors if they have seen him.”

It was a better idea than anyone else had at the moment, so the team walked into the rather cozy tavern set up here at the outskirts. An older bug with a large pirate hat and formidable white eyebrows sat behind the counter, his expression somewhat concerned as he saw the looks on the trio’s faces. They immediately got his attention as they approached.

“E-excuse me,” Eetl began, “have you by chance seen our friend? W-we got separated a-and he said he’d come here to meet up.”

“He’s a green beetle. A bit bigger than Eetl here.” Vi added, noting Eetl’s description as being… well, dramatically unhelpful, for lack of any softer way of putting it.

“Hmm… no, I don’t think so, I’m afraid.” The tavernkeep solemnly replied. “I do hope ye find yer friend though. Tis nothing but a sad day when a cap’n loses their mates.”

“Where else could he have gone?” Vi thought aloud.

“P-please don’t tell me he went under, why if he-” Eetl began to panic until Leif sharply placed a hand on his shoulder, his grip ice cold.

“Get ahold of yourself. He isn’t gone.”

“How do you know?”

“We… we just know. It’s a feeling.” Leif shrugged, not knowing where his certainty came from either. “We should keep looking. Eetl, you should stay here. We’ll handle this. Someone needs to wait here in case he comes through after all.”

“B-but the association…!” Eetl protested. “I have stuff I need to do!”

“I’m sure the master guy can get Maki to do the paperwork!” Vi sneered.

“S-so I’m at Mina’s mercy…” Eetl replied, genuine fear in the back of his voice as he fidgeted in place, sighing and sitting down at the nearest open table. “Do return soon, I don’t want to be away for longer t-than I have to.”

“We promise to return.” Leif nodded, stepping outside with Vi following closely behind. “We just need to figure out where to look…”

“Maybe we could ask Team Slacker?” Vi chimed in. “They know all sorts of secrets and stuff, maybe they know another place this river ends up!”

“As far as we know it only goes to this pier and then empties into the sea…” Leif trailed off. “Perhaps you have a point. They’re at… that underground bar you’re acquainted with, right?”

“It’s not just me who’s acquainted with it, Mr. Card Master!” Vi teased. “But yeah. They should be there. Let’s hurry!”

Their team was back down to two now… they certainly hoped they could find Kabbu before it was too late. What exactly ‘too late’ was… the poor beetle could’ve been out there drowning, or freezing, or something somehow even worse! They just had to find him, before whatever happened could finish him off…

The duo continued to cross the outskirts back towards the association. The place they were looking for was a shady tavern kept underground near the general shop in the Ant Kingdom, in a small alleyway of sorts. It was far from the most honest place in the world, but it was where they hoped to find what they needed.

A few battles with some persistent seedlings and underlings later, they found their way back to the Explorer’s Association, venturing north back into the city’s plaza. Leif’s gaze fell on the team’s red house. He hoped they would all get to sit and play the thrilling game of spy cards once again. Kabbu was always interested in Leif’s skills, even if Vi found the game boring…

For now, though, the two of them passed the house and went towards the Ant Kingdom’s shopping district… quickly finding that a few problematic clumps of grass were blocking the way.

“Agh, Kabbu was always the one who got rid of these!” The bee folded her arms in annoyance. “How are we going to get in now?”

“You can fly, right?”

“...Ugh. Yeah…”

Reluctantly, Vi grabbed onto Leif, at least thankful he wasn’t as heavy as Kabbu as she beat her wings rapidly, hoisting both herself and him over the grass. By the time she landed, she practically fell over, caught by Leif’s hand, saved from faceplanting into the snow.

“It’s a wonder this is still growing in this season.” Leif observed, gesturing to the defiant grass that had blocked their path.

Ignoring the observation, Vi sauntered over to the bottle cap hiding the underground’s entrance, knocking on the door. A dim voice echoed up from below.

“Password?”

“C’mon, it’s me, Vi.” The bee responded. “Team Celia let us in before.”

“...Need the password.”

“Come on, Reed! This is urgent!”

“Rules are rules.”

“UGH! At least tell us if Team Slacker is down there?”

“Nobody’s ‘down here’ unless you know the password-”

Tiring of the worthless dialog, Leif wandered over and froze the bottle cap solid, breaking it’s brittle shell and exposing the hole. It was quite apparent he would not mess around about his teammate’s safety. That was something anybody could admire about Leif - though he was odd, and very cold in every sense, he would do anything for his friends. That bond had passed to Vi and Kabbu as well, or perhaps it originated from Kabbu in the first place…

“O-Oi! Are you crazy!?” The voice shouted. Leif did not reply, breaking enough of the icy shell for him and Vi to jump down. The owner of the voice was the tavern’s bouncer, Reed, a red beetle, though of a different species than Kabbu or Eetl. He was looking quite shocked.

“We need to speak to Team Slacker.” Leif said, going back to his normal, stoic posture and expression. Reed was speechless, and so the both of them strolled into the bar… which Leif’s stunt had alerted the entirety of.

“Great, now they’re ALL mad…” Vi said in a hushed, frustrated whisper.

“This is all for our teammate.” Leif claimed coldly.

“Just what do you think you’re doin’?” Came a dark voice from the corner of the room. Shades, the tavern’s leader, was standing up on his perch, jumping down while having a stern expression on his face. “Do you wanna throw down, eh, ice guy!?”


	3. Down The Stream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leif and Vi talk to Team Slacker to get ideas of what might have happened to Kabbu, and then decide to set out after him via the same route that he ended up getting lost on.

“Throw down?” Leif chuckled coldly. “We don’t have time to fight. We need information. It’s urgent.”

“So ye come and trash my club?” Shades sneered.

“We will not let anything stop us. We need to help our friend, no matter what, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

“If you needed to get in here that bad, fine, do what you need to do.” He folded his arms, irritated. “But! You’re paying fer any damages from the snow while we patch up the massive hole you put in our entrance, you property-destroying freezer!”

Leif exhaled sharply, knowing that there wasn’t enough time to argue the point, nor enough of a case to fully justify the dramatic entrance. Vi tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the shouting match to finish. Finally, both of them turned to the tables against the wall. At one of them sat Stratos and Delilah, the infamous Team Slacker, though they preferred calling themselves informants.

The duo approached the table, causing the other team to cease their excited snickering as they looked up. The smaller one, Delilah, spoke first, her curled antennae bouncing a bit as she straightened her posture.

“Hey, Team Snakemouth!” She said in a friendly greeting. “That was some entrance! Did… you need something?”

“You two.” Leif started. “We need some information. You’ve been all around the region, correct?”

“Yeah, pretty much!”

“Good. The river on the outskirts of the pier, does it lead anywhere else?”

Delilah sat in thought for a moment, as did the larger orange bug, Stratos. After a few agonizing moments of nothing but silence, Delilah spoke up again, to answer the team’s question with what she knew.

“There is a little patch of land,” she began, “just before it empties out into the sea. You can’t see it from the pier, it’s hidden in the grass.”

“Maybe that’s where Kabbu ended up!” Vi said hopefully.

“Then that’s where we’ll look. Thank you.” Leif added with a small bow. As he turned to face the entrance, Shades suddenly looked ten times more agitated than before, stomping to get the attention of the moth.

“Oi! THAT’S what you came for? This is what you trashed my shop over!?”

“It is a matter of utmost importance.” Leif insisted, taking on a defensive stance as a small cloud of ice swirled around his hand. “We have already agreed to pay for the damages. We shall be leaving now.”

“Urgh- you- Fine! I don’t have time to fight, either, now that I need to talk to some connections about getting that hole fixed!”

Vi and Leif jumped on the bouncy mushroom at the entrance of the tavern, catapulting them back to safety, landing on their posteriors in the snow. As they got up, Leif turned and looked at the broken bottle cap, covered in an icy shell. Perhaps he did go a little overboard… but they had some information. That was better than nothing.

“Let’s hurry.” Vi urged. “I don’t wanna be out here when the weather gets even worse!”

“Glad to see how much you care.” Leif rolled his eyes.

“I-I do care!” Vi threw her hands up, offended. “I just, it’s dangerous for him too! A-And if I need to fly us over any gaps, I can’t do it if my wings are cold!”

Leif just sighed and raised a hand to shut her up, as the two of them wandered back towards the main plaza. Normally Kabbu was a mediator in these situations, stopping them from having such bitter arguments… their personalities truly clashed, but the three of them altogether worked so perfectly.

At last, they took the south exit out of the kingdom, back to the outskirts of Bugaria. Vi followed closely behind her friend as they came up to the side of the river, looking at the water. It was unnaturally still thanks to the thin frost that was growing across its surface, like moss over an ancient building.

“Well?” Vi broke the silence. “Are you gonna do your magic stuff or are we just gonna wait for Kabbu to magically appear?”

“...Fine.” Leif manifested another small platform of ice, dropping it into the water as he climbed over the leafy border of the ground, Vi jumping after and beating her wings a few times to give her the distance needed to join the moth on the ice. It automatically began drifting down the river, moving through the covered water as though it were nothing at all.

“Keep your guard up.” Leif warned. “If something took our friend, or anything else bad happened, we do not want the same to happen to us while we’re looking for him.”

“I’m not that clumsy!” Vi insisted.

“We didn’t say you were.”

“You implied it! And that’s worse!”

“Would you prefer us to say our thoughts as they are?”

“...Ugh.” She sat on the ice, her abdomen shaking a bit from the sudden cold as she folded her arms, pouting childishly as the journey continued. Though the ice was definitely stable, it was moving at such a slow pace.

“Do you think we could at least row this thing?” Vi suggested, putting a hand out to touch the water as Leif tugged at her.

“Vi, that water is cold enough to nearly freeze. We do not want to be touching it.”

This inspired nothing but another pouting sigh from Vi, as she retracted her hand, watching the thin layer of snow continue to form across the waves. She began to shiver, not enjoying the weather in the slightest. For a bee, the worst things it could be were snowing and raining. Still, she was just as determined as Leif to find Kabbu, even if she hid it a little…

At least progress was being made. The two of them could see where the grass curved over the river in the distance - something was definitely hidden there, but what? It could’ve been anything. Perhaps Kabbu simply found another path and mistook it for the way to the pier. That was the best case scenario.. The worst, well, that would mean he was taken, by something.

They both silently hoped that if that was the case, whatever was responsible for their friend’s mysterious disappearance would have some mercy. Alas, they simply could not be sure until they found him.

Leif sat down as well, careful to not let his long legs dip into the water. Vi didn’t have such a problem, though he knew if he brought that up to her, she’d probably push him in or do something equally irrational and dumb. That was his teammate... he missed Kabbu. Vi was his friend, too, but things were so different when it wasn’t all three of them together. They hadn’t been separated from him since they went to the Far Grasslands…

“Please be okay, Kabbu…” Leif said quietly, Vi not even hearing him.


	4. Beneath The Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The duo of heroes come across a strange building in a hidden cove off of the river. As they go to investigate it, Vi is suddenly forced to solve quite the problem on her own...

“Is it even moving any closer?” Vi impatiently crossed her arms as the ice drop sluggishly broke through the frost layering the water. The grass was indeed getting nearer, but the speed was agonizingly slow, especially with the urgency of the situation. Leif just sighed in response.

A few more minutes passed, and they made it to the small shore that Team Slacker had informed them of. The two of them leaped from the ice platform, landing on the snow-covered ledge. It wasn’t much warmer than the ride, but at least it was solid, and not immediately surrounded by frigid water.

They had no time to waste. The duo wandered towards the thickets in the grass, for what seemed like an hour. There was a definite, if rough, path leading through the tall blades. The sunlight barely crept into the route at all, keeping it dim and ice-cold.

Finally, however, the path opened back up, revealing a strange structure crafted out of a large cardboard box of some kind.

“Do you think Kabbu ended up here?” Vi asked in a low voice.

“It is possible.”

Together, they stepped forward, nearing the entrance… as Leif’s foot sunk into the ground. The snow gave way, revealing a large pit trap! Vi just barely managed to jump back, but the moth was not so lucky, flailing in the air as he fell down below, much to Vi’s dismay. She rushed to the edge of the pitfall.

“Leif, are you okay!?” She yelled down. A few agonized groans indicated it wasn’t an impossibly long or bottomless drop.

“We’re fine… looks like a dungeon of some kind. Go inside, find the stairs. We’re in some kind of cell. Watch out, it looks like there’s some more traps.”

“I think I could lift you out of there…”

“We’ve seen how weak you get from flying, Vi.” Leif echoed up, trying to reason. “We’re afraid you’ll end up stuck down here, too.”

“Hey, I’m not-”

“Vi.”

“Fine!” She huffed, wandering towards the entrance, poking the ground with the tip of her beemerang before each step and maneuvering past any pits that happened to show themselves. Each collapse made Leif cringe down in the lockup, afraid that Vi had foolishly fallen down.

Eventually, through trial and error, she made it to the open flap acting as the entrance to the box. She was a bit too quick to assume the traps were over, as the moment she walked into the dark building, she hit a tripwire!

“Yikes!” Vi jumped backwards just in time to dodge a flurry of sharp needles that launched from the wall, attached to strings as they retracted back to where they started. The wire was in such an awkward place… but she had an idea, one that she thought was rather clever.

She tripped the cable again, and the moment all of the needles flew out again…

Woosh!

She threw her beemerang precisely, splintering each spring as the spikes uselessly fell to the floor. Now that the trap was disarmed, she was able to focus on what was ahead. It was quite dark. Not so much that she couldn’t see, but so that she might not be able to detect more traps…

She walked forward, hitting the wire again as the cut strings uselessly threw themselves at her face. She brushed them away, her footsteps soft against the cardboard floor. It was a well insulated place, at least - she was happy to be out of the snow, even if it was on a double rescue mission.

For a little while, it seemed like the path was clear of traps. Just in case, Vi waved her weapon decisively with every other step, so she would be hopefully out of range if it triggered any more wires. There was no way she’d be able to see them in the darkness, after all. That was likely the plan set by whoever lived here. Who DID make this place? The question had been at the back of her mind, but she had gotten distracted both by Leif’s fall and the fact that she had nearly gotten skewered.

Yet, it seemed the question would once again be pushed from her mind, as she felt the floor move under one of her steps. She jumped back, as a large rock attached to a vine swung down with the force of a hammer, just barely missing her.

“Urk!” She nearly fell backwards in surprise as the rock slowly climbed back up to its starting position. That would easily deal some real damage if she got hit by it… But the slow pace gave her an idea once more. She was getting a lot of those today! ...Leif would’ve made a remark on that. She sighed, putting her plan into action.

She stepped on the pressure plate again, jumping back and waiting for the rock to hit its target, then she ran. She underestimated the trap - she had intended a short burst of sprinting speed, but she was forced to keep it up, as she activated more plates and more rocks swung down!

With a heavy exhale, she slid to a stop, looking back as the last rock finished its collision with the wall, causing a dampened corner of the box to fall open a bit. Natural light flooded into the room, revealing all the traps… which were obviously marked. She sighed. There also appeared to be many doorways to other rooms that she didn’t see in the darkness, but she figured those were unimportant right now.

Up ahead were the stairs, hopefully leading down into the basement that Leif had gotten himself trapped in. Vi hopped down the stairs one at a time, afraid now that even one wrong move would cause the whole thing to collapse.

A dim light came into view, and finally, she saw Leif in the cell. It was definitely some kind of dungeon… Without thinking, she rushed forward, and of course, a tripwire chose this as its time to shine. She triggered it, cursing herself in her mind as she lost her balance and fell forward, seeing a bunch of spikes about to erupt from holes in the ground… was this it!?

She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain… but it didn’t happen. Her eyelids opened again as she heard grunting, realizing she had landed on… ice?

“Leif!” Her teammate had gotten back up and had moved within range to save her! “Oh, thank Venus, I thought that was it!”

“Yeah yeah, just… hurry! We can’t hold this…!”

Vi dove off of the spikes, hearing them finish their activation, shattering the thin veil of ice that had just barely saved her life. She lived another day! Immediately she searched for some kind of mechanism to open the door, finally finding a switch.

“Look out, this might, I dunno, collapse the floor beneath you or something.” Vi warned. “These people really like their trap things.”

“We’ve noticed.” The deadpan reply came, as Vi hit the switch. The barred door dropped into a slot that opened beneath it, as Leif stepped out of the cage.

“What, not even a thank you?” Vi said teasingly. Leif only rolled his eyes, looking around the chamber a bit more.

“This place is strange. It’s empty, as well.” Leif observed. “Perhaps whoever owns this area is responsible for whatever happened to our teammate. We should look for clues.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah, these definitely seem like the kind of crooks to kidnap someone.” Vi replied. “I saw a bunch of empty rooms upstairs. We should look up there. I’ll disarm the rest of the traps. Ain’t nothing my beemerang can’t handle!”

“Well then, perhaps we will simply go wait outside.”

“T-That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

Reunited, the duo ascended back up the stairs, in search of their lost - or now perhaps, stolen - friend and teammate. They were close to getting a lead at last. Hopefully they weren’t too late to find him… he was invaluable to Team Snakemouth’s identity and status, as well as simply being a good friend.


	5. Seeking Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heroic duo continues to search the mysterious base in the grass, and they eventually stumble upon something important.

Ambling behind Vi, Leif looked around the dimmed box, watching his teammate throw her boomerang to disarm a few rocks on vines. With that issue out of the way, the two of them walked towards the first open door, entering what seemed to be a bunk room of some kind. Four bunk beds were neatly set up across the back wall, indicating at least eight members to whatever this group was.

“Let’s see here…” Vi said quietly, as she walked over to one of the tables in between the bunks, evidently looking for any clues to the identity of this organization or their current whereabouts. Leif followed suit, deciding to check the dressers to the sides of the doorway.

“Nothing here, except some kinda shopping list.” Vi observed, partially mumbling, though the near silence of the room save for their searching allowed her moth teammate to hear it anyway. “Honey drops, Numbnail sedatives…”

Leif, though he did hear her, didn’t respond. He was too focused on sifting through the various drawers, hoping to find anything that would help them finish this impromptu adventure.

“Hm.” He finally said, getting Vi’s attention as he pulled out a piece of paper. “This appears to be some kind of notice.”

Clearing his throat, though given the well-kept secret making it so he had no need to do so, the moth read the paper out loud as Vi sauntered over, her antennas perking up so she could listen.

“Weekly Notice. The season of winter is approaching and this means you all need to get to work. We’ve waited a long year for this, and there’s bound to be something along the frozen river that we can carry out our plans with. Remember - nothing is too small to report. - Mister.”

“Mr. who?”

“Doesn’t say. Perhaps a precaution for people like us.”

“Let’s get going, then! It sounds like whatever they’re planning, it’s not gonna be good for Kabbu.” Vi insistently began marching towards the door. “It better not be too late, if he went and got himself killed, I’ll- I’ll never forgive him!”

“We’re sure that will show him, Vi.” Leif said in the most deadpan tone he could muster. “We shall hurry. However, we still do not know the group’s whereabouts. This appears to be their home base, which means if they come back, it will be too late.”

Changing plans reluctantly, Vi slowed her pace and led into the next room. Just a kitchen, it looked like. Utterly useless to them. Well, almost - Vi happened to check a cupboard, finding an untouched leaf salad. It looked quite fresh, and mouth-watering at that… the bee’s stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten for the better half of an entire day.

“Vi, we don’t think that’s safe-” Leif raised a hand to stop her, but Vi had already swiped the salad, biting into the leaves ravenously as she spent a good minute or so enjoying the food. Noticing no adverse effects, Leif just sighed, taking on a sarcastic tone. “If you get food poisoning from this, we’re leaving you behind.”

“I was hungry!” Vi protested, to no avail.

Eventually, they did move on to the next room. It was a dusted map room, with a large table situated in the middle, with all of the chairs tilted to face the back wall, where a grand map of a large part of Bugaria was hung.

“This is perfect!” Vi cheered. “We’ll find them in no time thanks to their own plans!”

She moved towards the map, practically skipping as Leif followed readily. Vi looked over the map, squinting and leaning in. Her smile eventually started to sag into a frown once more, before her entire expression dropped into the realm of frustration rather than anything happy.

“Hey, what gives!? This map is useless! I don’t see any marks!”

Silently, Leif stepped next to Vi, detecting some sort of scent in the air as he stared at the map. In contrast to his companion, his expression shifted to one of interest as he raised a hand out of his wings. Carefully, he touched his hand to the map, moving it across the paper as he suddenly retracted the arm, nodding a bit as though he had found something.

“Leif, what are you doing? There’s nothing he-”

With little warning, Leif threw out a cloud of ice magic from his hand, causing Vi to jump back in surprise as her antennas perked straight up. Confused, she watched as the frost settled onto the board… and like magic, lines appeared across its surface in various locations, darker than the rest of the frozen map!

“Woah! How’d you know to do that!?”

“We felt something warm.” Leif explained. “It would appear this group can also utilize ice magic, and they used a heated instrument to mark their map, so only those with the power of ice would be able to read it.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I rescued you, huh?”

Leif chose not to reply to the remark, instead focusing his attention onto the now fully marked map. He moved his hand again, carefully tracing the heated lines as he finally found the base. It seemed as though several lines converged to a point, right at the edge of the sea… partially into the dead lands.

“They must have taken Kabbu there.” He tapped the spot.

“What!? B-but that’s…!”

“We are aware. We have no choice. He would have done the same for us, no matter the risks.”

Vi tried to argue, but failed to come up with any valid grounds for dispute. Leif was definitely right. The only way they were going to save Kabbu would be to make for the Dead Lands as soon as possible.

“So are we going to have to ride one of those ice things again?” Vi whined.

“Not necessarily. Look.”

He traced another line connecting to the base they stood in, revealing a small dock area just through the thickets of grass. A few icons were etched in as well, looking like small rafts.

“We can see if they have a spare boat.”

Vi sighed in relief, leading the way outside, hitting the first tripwire as the still-busted strings pathetically jumped at Leif’s face as he followed behind, startling him fully. Noticing this, the bee just bursted out laughing.

“Uh oh, Leif, look out! Strings!”

“Remind us to freeze you later.”

Falling silent, Vi continued taking the lead. Sure enough, there was a small clearing in the tall blades of grass, revealing a smaller path that they were quick to follow along. Eventually, they reached the brink of the sea, and tucked into the foliage where they would have never seen from outside the area, there was a wooden dock.

It appeared they were just in luck - a single raft had been spared, tied to a pole of the dock and ambiently bobbing up and down in the water. Vi threw her beemerang to cut the ropes without warning, much to Leif’s disapproval, as they both rushed to jump on as it began to drift into the open water.

“Now we need to paddle.” Leif informed his teammate. “However, we still do not recommend touching the water. Use your boomerang.”

“Beemerang.” Vi corrected insistently, obeying and using the wooden weapon to get the raft moving on the right track. “Don’t worry, Kabbu! We’re coming to rescue you, finally! Just hang in there!”


	6. Cold Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leif and Vi finally make it to the Dead Lands, and they get their chance to confront Kabbu's captors.

The clouds above seemed to get more dense as the duo approached the edge of the sea on their raft. Going through the Dead Lands was horrible enough through the main entrance, and here they were, heading into the wastelands that stood outside the giant’s lair… who knew what would be waiting for them here, or what fate their teammate would meet if they failed now.

They kept their determination, with Vi not slowing down her rowing for even a second, with Leif standing and acting as navigation. The rest of Bugaria became hardly recognizable from this distance, yet the imposing wall of the Giant’s Lair stood strong. The part of the sea directly beneath the lip of its roof was untouched by the falling frost.

Finally, they reached the brink of the Dead Lands. Leif used the remaining rope Vi had cut before in order to tie the raft to a small end of a twig, as the duo walked into the snowy barrens. A front of cold wind hit both of them, not bothering Leif in the slightest but causing Vi to shiver.

“L-let’s find Kabbu quickly so we c-can get out of here.” She chattered.

They looked around for any signs, and sure enough they soon found one - in the distance, across the snowy plains, there was a large dead stump with an unnatural cloud of snow surrounding its peak. It could only have been the work of magic.

“It looks like we are dealing with masters.” Leif observed. “We should be careful.”

“I’ll knock ‘em all down, easy!”

“We’re serious, Vi.”

“So am I!”

Leif chose to cut the conversation, starting the long trek across the cold. It was eerily silent, save for the wind that created a harsh fog everywhere beyond their destination. It was like they were standing at the very end of the world… and indeed, it was the absolute edge of the world that they knew, the very border of Bugaria. As far as they could tell, nothing but twisted horrors were beyond that point…

About halfway through the taxing hike, Vi seemed to jump backwards, flaring her wings out as her antennas shot up, much to her teammate’s confusion.

“Something wrong, Vi?”

“D-D-Don’t tell me you didn’t see it!”

“See what?”

“L-look!” She pointed at the fog, as the moth turned his attention in time to see an absolutely massive shadow moving beyond the clouds. It was bigger than anything they had ever encountered before, striking fear into both of them as they stared in morbid awe at the sheer destructive size of the beast.

Thankfully, it didn’t come their way. Instead, it turned to the fog once more and vanished within moments, an indicator of its speed - which perhaps was not so fortunate to behold, either.

“W-What is that thing…?” Vi said in a hushed voice, as if the creature could hear from so far away.

“We don’t know… but we should hurry.”

There was no argument on that point from Vi, the bee taking the lead and practically tugging Leif along as they continued their dash across the snow. They had just made it behind a root of the massive stump as they heard enormous thumping noises. Vi’s breathing picked up, Leif not doing too well either.

Slowly, Vi peeked out, quivering. Her eyes widened. The beast had returned, it’s massive, dark limbs causing a large quake with each movement. It had two massive eyes, which Vi immediately recognized as the watchful nightmare creature that her team had encountered in the depths of the Giant’s Lair.

She held her breath, both she and her teammate shaking wildly with each slam on the ground. It felt like the entire world could collapse. Then, the stomps became a bit more distant. Leif risked a look, and saw the beast returning to the fog.

“It’s… looking for something.”

“Or someone…” Vi muttered in fear.

“We need to be fast, before it returns again.”

They began ascending a slope carved into the stump, very likely to be the same one that allowed Kabbu’s captors to bring him up to the apex. It was larger than they anticipated, but soon, both of them reached the top.

The snow cloud definitely wasn’t just for show. Even Leif, his body so attuned to the cold, was shivering as they stood on the top of the stump. Every direction was pure white, the clouds swirling around and creating the sound of howling wind. The duo could just barely make out a group of silhouettes, one looking suspiciously like…

“Kabbu!” Vi shouted, much to Leif’s dismay. He had hoped, perhaps foolishly, that his teammate would at least consider stealth for something this dangerous. Sure enough, all of the silhouettes looked up, except the beetle’s.

“Interlopers!” Hissed one of them, slamming a palm out as the snow rushed outward. The stump became clearly visible though everything beyond was pale white, as though this wooden plateau was the only remaining thing in the world.

This revealed the group. Several roaches stood, their skin a cold blue. Each of them wore metallic armor. Several wore navy-blue masquerades adorned with cyan thorns. The apparent leader had a more grandiose mask. All of them stood in front of Kabbu, who was unconscious and tied up.

“What are you doing to our teammate!?” Vi demanded.

“He is not yours anymore, weheh!” The leader spoke in an acidic tone. “He’s a sacrifice to the great gods of this wonderful winter! Once he succumbs to the cold, we shall leave him here! Heh, you know what would greatly please them? A triple sacrifice!”

There were six roaches in total, all of which began to approach Leif and Vi. They had little choice but to fight! So, that’s what they began to do. Vi threw her beemerang with greater might than she ever had before, managing to knock back five of them, however the leader simply blocked it!

With a whistle from their boss, all five roaches rushed right back into the frey. It was no use - they had to take down the leader if they wanted any chance of beating these criminals!

Leif grunted, throwing out an ice shot with the intent to strike the leader, who only fired back with icicles of his own, causing the two icicles to meet in midair as they shattered each other. The leading roach laughed.

“So, you have the gift of ice as well.” He observed, putting up a hand for the other roaches to stand back. “Why not join us? The gods would be happy to have another prophet using their gift! Turn on your friend, and this will be a lot easier for all of us!”

“Never.” Leif returned, much to Vi’s relief.

“Then both of you shall die here!”

All of the roaches began to close in. Both of them were shivering, not just from the cold, but from a little fear as well… It didn’t look like there was any way out except back down, and they couldn’t abandon Kabbu.

They had to come up with something.


	7. Frozen Apex

“Long has Bugaria suffered the wrath of the winter Gods.” The leading roach hissed, shaking a fist at the two of them. “Through our actions, we will save all! Pitiful bugs who can’t respect us will disappear!”

“We’re not going to let you sacrifice our friend!” Vi insisted in a shout, growing more angered than scared.

From all the commotion, Kabbu’s pupils began to open. He seemed dazed, and quickly he looked down. Realizing he was tied up, his mind caught up to him as he struggled. A look of fear quickly washed over the beetle’s face as his gaze jumped around feverishly.

“W-What’s going on!?” He kicked, trying to free himself from his bindings.

“Terri, put him back under.” The roach commanded… but just as one of the roaches approached the beetle, Leif threw out another ice drop, breaking on the head of ‘Terri’ without any noticeable effect. The roach stopped and turned around, furious.

“Fine then. We’ll deal with you first.” The leader snapped back at them. All of the roaches went into position - it seemed hopeless. It was six against two… or so it appeared. Vi, gaining an idea, looked up to Leif and used very rough gestures to refer to Kabbu and her beemerang. Thankfully and fortunately, Leif managed to use context to understand, delivering a brief nod as he readied his magic.

“Attack!”

The five roaches readied clouds of snowy magic, throwing out barrages of bullet-like icicles that rained down upon the teammates, at first glance. An icy fog was created from the impact… Kabbu could only look on in fear. Was that all it took? He shivered in terror… until he felt a tap at his shoulder. He looked up…

“Vi-”

“Shh!” Vi looked fearfully at the Roaches. Thankfully, their barrage seemed to muffle Kabbu’s near outburst. Using a careful toss of her weapon, she broke the ropes keeping Kabbu trapped. With the third teammate free, the battle would become just a little more even!

From this advantageous position, Vi threw her beemerang aggressively at the leader roach, striking him in the back of the head and causing his antennas to straighten sharply in an instant in angered surprise. He whirled around, recoiling a bit from the confusing sight.

“What!? STOP ATTACKING!”

The roaches ceased their assault… revealing Leif confidently maintaining his bubble shield, completely safe from harm. The roaches seemed to hiss in unison. They looked between the three teammates, processing what had occurred - Vi slipped away as the cold fog creeped in, feeling her way to Kabbu!

Unlike the frustrated roaches, Vi didn’t waste time. She jumped up, hovering over Kabbu and grunting as she lifted him off the ground, carrying him over to the leader. Although the roach attempted to dodge, nothing could have protected him from Kabbu cannonballing from his position, tackling the roach to the ground with his powerful horn.

“Get away, heathen!” demanded the roach in vain. “Don’t just watch, you lot, help me!”

Finally broken from their trance, the roaches tried to close in to pull away Kabbu, their focus entirely off of Leif as he casted a freezing rain of icicles - a near mimic of what the group attacked him with moments earlier. Grunts of pain rang out as the roaches were pelted, some of them frozen solid, including the leader as Kabbu jumped back just in time… before charging into the block and sending him hurtling off the edge!

“You will pay!” shouted out one of the cowering, but not frozen, remaining roaches. “You will all pay for defying the gods!”

The ‘rain’ finally stopped, as Leif grew exhausted. Vi was more than ready to pick up the baton, throwing her ‘rang as it sent the frozen two roaches flying out into the fog as well. Once it returned to her, she immediately threw it again, as it flew over the other roaches’ heads.

“Unfortunate.” One said with a snarky, evil grin as he approached Vi, who’s smirk didn’t fade. The weapon came flying back, hitting the roach right in the back of the head and sending him into a charge from Kabbu. Only two Roaches still stood, and the commotion caused a distant stomping…

Leif gestured to his teammates, who nodded and ran for the slope that had led them up there, the fog bank around the dead tree having grown much weaker from the lack of maintenance. Using the last bit of his magic, he froze the slope, as the three of them slid down skillfully.

“C-Come back and face us! We’ll find you!” claimed one of the roaches.

“Feel free, once that thing is done with you!” Vi teased. The roaches looked back - the massive, indescribably horrifying monster from the fog had heard the fight, and had arrived to finish off what remained of the stump. Meanwhile, Team Snakemouth successfully fled back to the raft they had found, cruising back towards Bugaria proper, specifically its outskirts port.

Once they all sat down on the boat, they let out a collective sigh of relief, having narrowly escaped the crazed band of roaches. Leif and Vi looked at their rescued teammate with a smile.

“...What?” He asked bashfully.

“Welcome back!” Vi cheered. “Don’t fall in a river ever again, okay?”

“Well, I couldn’t help it!” returned Kabbu as he rubbed the back of his head. “I wonder what the deal with those creeps was.”

“They said they wanted to sacrifice you. To the winter gods.” Leif chimed in to explain, still quite tired from how much magic the fight required. “I am sure they have no connection to the roaches we have met.”

“With some luck, we won’t see them again.” Kabbu looked back at the Dead Lands they had escaped from. “And hopefully, we won’t see that THING again either.”

“Do you think they thought that was a winter god or something?” Vi wondered aloud.

“It’s certainly wrathful.” Leif observed. The conversation fizzled out, as the raft approached the shore. The three of them stepped onto the dock, and then onto the frosted grass. It was a familiar feeling - something they desperately needed after that near-disaster.

With a vow to never get separated again if they could help it and their bond furthered, Team Snakemouth returned to the Ant Kingdom, huddling into their purchased red home to warm up. They had seen quite enough snow and ice for a while.

“...Thank you for rescuing me, guys.” Kabbu said, tears growing in his eyes. “It means - It means a lot to me.”

“Don’t mention it, you’re our teammate!” Vi stated. “Though, if you found any berries or anything while you were out th-”

“Vi. No.” Leif was a second away from freezing the bee solid.

“I was just kidding!” She waved her arms to diffuse the situation. “We’re glad you’re back, Kabbu!”

“I love you guys.” Kabbu laughed at the scene before him. Things had truly gone back to normal, their problems seemingly solved for the time being. Still, though, there was a collective wonder of what would happen to those strange roaches… and perhaps more pressingly, were there more of them? Was it some sort of cult? They were too exhausted to carry the conversation further, so for now, they turned in for the evening.


End file.
